


our roots remain as one

by rubanrose, tonyang (kurusui)



Category: Oh My Girl (Band)
Genre: F/F, predebut antagonistic miyoo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-29
Updated: 2016-12-29
Packaged: 2018-09-13 04:48:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9107335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rubanrose/pseuds/rubanrose, https://archiveofourown.org/users/kurusui/pseuds/tonyang
Summary: There’s no wi-fi in the forest, but I promise you’ll find a better connection.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [unglamour](https://archiveofourown.org/users/unglamour/gifts).



> Written for [omg fic exchange 2016!](https://ohmygirlexchange.dreamwidth.org/3682.html) Prompt: oh my girl go camping and Things Start To Go Wrong. Merry Christmas!! <3 <3 (cheesy)   
> [[title inspiration](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/02/0a/6e/020a6e549e5b19e481277afcbb019d61.jpg)] [[summary inspiration](https://ton.twitter.com/i/ton/data/dm/812443099205144579/812443086009827328/CcvyoM7N.jpg:large)]   
> -  
> This was a VERY, VERY last minute pinch hit collaboration effort, and it was fun to write, we should do it again under less time pressure!

She gets another special stage.

  
“Congratulations, Shiah!” the members say in unison, cheering for her in the dorm when the news is relayed to them by their manager.

“Congratulations,” Mihyun echoes. Her voice is hollow. Shiah runs to pack her things so she can practice in another group’s agency, but before that, she stops and motions for Mimi to talk privately.

“I asked them if you could do it instead,” Shiah says, apologetic.

“You didn’t have to do that. You shouldn’t.”

“Yeah, but I just feel bad,” she insists, twirling her hair and looking at the ground. “It’s not fair to you.”

“Well, it’s not necessarily because you’re better than me at dance,” Mihyun says. “There are other reasons.” It stings Shiah, who’s wearing no makeup and loose clothes. It’s not like she doesn’t know.

“Fine.” She leaves with the manager, and Mihyun stays standing in the hallway, thinking about the past.

-

Over the next few days Mihyun counts herself lucky that performances run you ragged, because Shiah is constantly out of the dorm practicing and when she’s not, she heads straight to bed. They don’t have to talk, which is great because even if she was around, Mihyun doesn’t have anything to say.

She’s not jealous, really. Bitter, yes, a little bit. Angry, no, not exactly, but envious - okay, maybe she’s jealous. She wants to be tired and sore and overexerted learning routines she’ll only perform on a single stage.

Hyojung notices, of course. “Mihyun, I’m thinking about taking us on that camping trip I’ve been talking about! Do you want to help me plan?”

“Camping, unnie? Camping?”

“Well yeah, it’s going to be tons of fun, natural sunlight, no fans, just hanging out like normal friends!” She’s euphoric, so of course Mihyun can’t say no. “We should go fishing! Roast marshmallows! I’ve always wanted to do these things with you guys.”

“I’m pretty sure none of us have ever gone fishing before, unnie. Do you even have any idea how to...? Is our manager going to stay with us?”  
  
“Just two days alone is going to be fine,” Hyojung chirps, and Mihyun smiles. It’s going to be interesting, that’s for sure.

  
-

There's a lake not too far away from the campsite, and Hyojung is really excited about it.

"We can go swimming!" she says with enthusiasm.

Shiah side-eyes her. "You can't even swim," she reminds her as she sets her bags down on the ground. "And lakes are gross."

Yewon nods in agreement.

"We can go canoeing then, if you don't want to swim,” Hyojung says, still not getting annoyed at everyone’s lack of motivation. “It’s gonna be so fun!”

They woke up at 5:30AM because Hyojung decided she wanted to make the most out of their two days off and none of them has the energy to match Hyojung's enthusiasm. Yoobin is already on her third trip back from the car with Seunghee because their leader had packed like they were going camping for a month instead of two days.

"Maybe we should just set up the tents and do things on our own after," proposes Shiah, but it's mostly wishful thinking; their leader has already planned activities for their two days there.

“We’re going hiking!”

Shiah groans, Jiho is already grabbing the map from Hyojung’s backpack.

Mihyun hasn’t said a word since the morning. She’s sitting silently by the cooler listening to her iPod.

-

Hyojung is smiling brightly as she walks at a rapid pace, not realizing half the group behind her are panting and having trouble following her.

“Hyo unnie, please,” says Seunghee who is a dozen meters further down the path.

Hyojung stops, leaving time for the few girls falling behind to catch up.

“Isn’t it amazing?” asks Hyojung, smiling as she looks up to the sun. “The fresh air, the smell of the forest, the sun!” she says, and Shiah rolls her eyes.

“The insects, my feet covered in blisters, my hair a mess,” says Shiah, and Hyojung gives her a warning look. They all agreed to be positive during their camping trip. Their leader would accept no negative comments, and especially no fighting and they are all aware of it.

“At least we don’t have to wear skirts,” says Yoobin and everyone laughs half heartedly.

“Hyojung, why don’t we slow it down a little? We know you love camping but you’re the only ex-Girl Scout here,” says Hyejin, sitting down on a rock by the side of the path. Her breaths are still short, as she is the one who has the most trouble following along. She has the biggest backpack out of all the girls. She reaches for the sunscreen in a pocket of her bag and smiles. All the girls groan; Hyejin has been incessantly making sure they were wearing sunscreen and weren’t getting any sunburns for the last three hours since they left. Hyejin always takes care of all of them in her own way.

A little camping trip couldn’t kill anyone, Hyojung had said, it’ll be fun. Shiah groans as she takes a sip from the water bottle Yewon is handing her. She almost felt bad they’re not enjoying it the way their leader wants them to. Hyojung is so happy to be there with them, and Shiah wishes she could be as happy as she was.

“We’re almost there anyway,” says Jiho, the only member who has been following her without difficulty while looking at the map.

“Almost where?” asks Shiah. “We’re just hiking to nowhere at all.”

“To the top of the mountain!” answers Jiho, and she starts walking again as if the mood between all of them isn’t terrible and Shiah knows exactly why.

-

Shiah remembers a time where they didn't like each other.

_"She's so annoying," Shiah hears in the hallway. "She really thinks she's that much better than all of us. Just because she went to that dance academy-"_

_"Good thing I'm not here to make friends," she interrupts._

_Mihyun turns around, monologue over, a scowl on her face._

_"I want to debut, not play along with your cutesy fantasies about us being a happy family, or whatever the rhetoric for girl groups is."_

_Mihyun gazes at her, resisting the urge to slap Shiah on the face. It would look bad on her monthly evaluation, and at this point that's really the only thing she can keep repeating to herself in an effort to calm down._

_"I don't want to be best friends, I want you to acknowledge my skills, or you know, respect me as a person," Mihyun snaps._

_Shiah laughs, an incredulous_ hah _at first, before she doubles over and tears form in her eyes._

Mihyun watches her, glowering.

"It'll never happen," Shiah answers finally. "You know I'm never going to like you. We don't have to argue about this."

It's not until the lineup is decided that they are forced to admit it's going to have to work, and it's not until debut era passes that they concede they have some similarities.

The day they start to get along is shocking, and that a day when Hyojung says "you guys have really become best friends" would come to exist is a miracle.

-

The portable burner Hyejin grabbed from the company storage room in the basement is broken.

“Ughhhh!” Yewon screams to the sky as Seunghee and Mihyun try to fix it without knowing what the problem is. “I’m so hungry. Let’s just start a fire. I’ll collect the wood.”

The kimbap Hyojung had woken up even earlier to make has been devoured by eight hungry girls in the morning and now their hunger was growing as they set the tents. Seunghee’s stomach keeps growling, making noises no one can ignore.

“NO!” Hyojung holds out her hands in front of Yewon to stop her. “You’re not going out there alone. It’s dangerous out there!”

The campground is just an expanse of dirt and fallen leaves in the middle of nowhere, small enough so it’s just the girls in the area.

“I can go with her,” Yoobin says, standing up straight to look more responsible in their leader’s eyes.

Hyojung looks her over and sighs. “Fine, you guys can go. Stay safe! Take the bug spray! And always stick together, and don’t be gone longer than a half hour-” Yoobin and Yewon link arms and head off into the forest.

Jiho sits on a log watching the stove repair process fail terribly. “You guys, we should just look up the manual online.”

“Yeah, says the person not doing anything at all to help,” Seunghee grumbles. Jiho gives her a friendly punch to the arm.

“We have a cellphone, right? What’s the name of the stove model?” Hyejin asks from where she’s setting up the tents with Shiah.

“I don’t think we have any service...” Hyojung fiddles with the screen, turning the data on and off, watching the signal bars stay empty. “Mihyun and Shiah, go look for a higher elevation point where we can get internet connection.” The other members look at Hyojung knowingly.  
  
“I’m working on the tent,” Shiah says, as Mihyun narrows her eyes. This is a setup.

  
“I’m also working on the stove-”

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Hyojung says dismissively. “Just go.” Her eyes glint and both of them are afraid of what would happen if they didn’t.

-

“So,” Mihyun says. The silence is awkward.

It’s still sunny out, though it’s much less hot now that the afternoon has set in. They trek back in the direction of the mountain, or so they think - neither of them has the map with them, and by the time Shiah noticed that neither of them felt like walking back.

“While we’re out here, we might as well look for that ladybug rock,” Shiah says.

“Ladybug rock?”

“It’s one of the landmarks, apparently. Shaped like one? Red and black. Didn’t you see it on the park website Hyojung unnie made us all look at?”  
  
“I didn’t really go through that,” Mihyun confesses. “I was too busy making trips to the grocery store to make sure we had enough food.”

  
Shiah laughs lightly and it’s quiet again. Both of them have the stamina to hike without any issues, but they only have a few granola bars between them.

“Still no signal?”

“None,” Shiah says. “Um, the path looks like it’s going down.”

She’s right. What once looked like ascending earth was really a trip into a steep valley. It doesn’t look like the mountain they previously suffered climbing. “This isn’t the way we came.”

“...Now what?”

The sky gradually darkens as they head back in the other direction. The phone’s flashlight is on, illuminating their steps. There’s a fork in the path now.

“Left’s towards the river, and I don’t think we were near there,” Mihyun says.

“The ladybug rock is by the river, and there’s a waterfall close to that, maybe we should at least take a look there if we’re already lost,” Shiah suggests.

“Yeah, Shiah, _we’re lost_. We don’t have time to take detours.”

“Oh please Mihyun, can you just let me have one thing for once?” She starts walking towards the left.  
  
“Can you just let me have one of your dance stages for once?” It slips out without her meaning to. It’s not Shiah’s fault, and it never has been.  
  
“I knew you were still mad about that,” Shiah says, stopping in her tracks, looking towards the water. “I also knew that I was right and you were jealous.”

  
“Fine if I was jealous! I am! I want to be called the main dancer too and actually get to show off, and I want to be noticed too, I don’t just want to be pitied by you because you’re prettier than me.” It’s all acid in her mouth, all false claims and exaggerated emotions. She has to get something off her chest though.

“I’ve always been jealous of you,” Shiah says, and if Mihyun didn’t know any better she would have believed that for a split second, but everyone lies during fights to end them. It still hurts to hear her response in the most bittersweet way. “Of course I didn’t let you know,” she continues, “because no one wants to be vulnerable and jealousy means you think you’re not good enough, and no one wants to acknowledge they’re not good enough.”

“You’re more than good enough,” Mihyun says, rattled. “At everything. Charisma. Singing. Dance.”

“Not at apologizing,” Shiah says.

“That’s not a reason to be jealous of me.” I did wrong, Mihyun thinks, today, and last week, and three years ago.

“Of your dancing, of course, your form,” she says, “and your stage presence, and your personality. You’re too nice.”

“From the beginning?” Mihyun asks quietly, still wanting to attack, still not letting herself believe it.

“I wouldn’t have fought with you so much before if I didn’t think you were a worthy rival,” Shiah teases, trying to cut away the tension. Mihyun relaxes.

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry too - oh look! Pangul!” A young deer nibbles at the greens, color dulled by the emerging night, some distance down the right path. Mihyun and Shiah look at each other excitedly and chase after it. “We still have some battery! Let’s get some pics!”

Shiah struggles to get the camera application open while running and trips over tree roots embedded in the ground. “Ow...”

“Shiah, are you okay?!” Her ankle looks fine, but the pressure of her body weight can’t be supported.

Mihyun takes a look at her struggling to get up and says, “I’ll give you a ride.” She crouches down next to Shiah and points to her back. “Get on.”

“I don’t want to,” she responds, laughing. She climbs on, light and delicate, and Mihyun starts the walk back.

-

Mihyun’s out of breath by the time they get back to the campsite. Her bangs are sticking to her forehead and her cheeks reddened with the effort. Shiah has her arms around her neck, leaning comfortably. Her hair tickles Mihyun’s neck every time she takes a step. Mihyun lets her down once they reach the others, and quickly explains that she tripped and hurt her ankle. Hyojung runs to them, making sure Shiah’s okay and helping her to a camping chair. Shiah reassured her; she’d be fine in a few hours. She knew they’d be in trouble if she wasn’t.

Their mood seems to have greatly improved, maybe because Shiah and Mihyun were gone for a while. The tents are now set up nicely by the trees and Seunghee and Yoobin are cooking meat on the now perfectly working burner.

“You repaired it?” asks Mihyun.

Yoobin points to Hyejin who’s piling up wood to make a bonfire for later. “It took 5 minutes after you left. It’s because Hyejin unnie used to work for Santa before she joined Oh My Girl.”

Hyejin gasps in fake hurt, and soon she’s chasing Yoobin around, yelling about how she would be way too tall to be an elf.

Jiho and Yewon are playing a card game on the grass and Mihyun and Shiah join them. The camping trip didn’t start as nicely as Hyojung had hoped so but it was now starting to feel more and more like the vacation they all needed.

-

By the time they’re done setting up the tents and making dinner, the sun is already setting. Jiho places their camping chairs around the bonfire while everyone is setting up their sleeping bag in the tent and putting on their pajamas and warm hoodies since the temperature is dropping.

Seunghee brings her guitar along, and they all sit around the fire. The mood is nice; it feels like those movie nights they had in their dorm before they debuted.

Shiah sits by Mihyun’s side, listening as Seunghee’s fingers strum the guitar until the random chords turn into familiar tunes and they’re all singing along, sharing warm smiles and looks full of affection. Hyojung passes the bag of marshmallows to the youngests, and they share snacks around, forgoing their diet.

Shiah reaches for Mihyun’s hand, and if the other is surprised she doesn’t show it as she intertwines their fingers.

The day has been tiring, and Shiah is starting to feel sleepy. She puts her head on Mihyun’s shoulder.

“We can see the ladybug rock tomorrow,” Mihyun says.

“You’ll get your chance to shine too. I’ll make sure of it,” whispers Shiah, not sure if Mihyun can hear her. She does hear her, and squeezes her hand gently.

“Oh My Girl’s strength is that we’re the best when it’s all of us together… I don’t need special stages when I have all of you.”

Shiah closes her eyes, Mihyun’s words are echoing in her head and she knows she’s right.


End file.
